[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ith the whirlwind of marches and manifestos that has swept through the United States following Trump’s inauguration, it’s easy to miss the memo on which articles are truly worth your time. Here is one resistant piece of writing by Lauren Jauregui of Fifth Harmony that you definitely shouldn’t skip over.
“Raise your hand if you are an immigrant,” begins Jauregui’s open response to Trump’s stance on immigration that was published by People Magazine Monday afternoon. “…or the sons and daughters of immigrant parents, or the grandchildren of immigrants, or the great-grandchildren, or great-great-grandchildren?” it continues. “Wait…are everyone’s hands up – including yours, Mr. Trump – except for the Indigenous people of the Americas?! Because they should be.”
The letter backs this frank introduction by citing some basic American history, including the migrations of the Spanish conquistadors in 1492 and the European Christian separatists in 1620, both groups of whom eventually enslaved and slaughtered the Native populations.
Jauregui then asserts that the patriotism this nation loves to promote “is all a sham”, attributing citizens’ blind senses of nationalism to a greed-swollen love of money, and suggesting that “maybe, just maybe, will we be able to return back to the grace of America’s principle values” once we open our eyes to this detrimental imbalance of priorities. She also states that “[The American flag’s] stripes are supposed to symbolize the brutal blood of a fight for liberation from oppression, when really it was all seemingly for a few men’s legacies.”
Consequently, Jauregui implores her readers to acknowledge the fact that our nation would be nonexistent without the presence of immigrants or refugees. Specifically, she addresses the unwarranted bigotry that brands all Middle Eastern refugees as terrorists. “To tell another human being that the disastrous tortures of war are not important and to then go even a step further and insult their plight for freedom by labeling them ‘terrorists’ is just disrespectful to humanity.”
“We will not be able to drink oil or eat dirty, blood-wrung green paper and nickel.” -Lauren Jauregui
In her final stanzas, Jauregui once again implies that many of America’s problems stem from one centric manifestation of inequality – class, a theory that has also been discussed by feminist advocates such as bell hooks. She states that the citizens of the U.S., as a whole, “have never known war, we have never known the pain of discomfort, we have been privileged and promised into our moral oblivion.”
The piece wraps itself up with a few much-needed warnings. “The phrase ‘history repeats itself’ is not a cliché for free,” says Jauregui. “Please heed the danger and the warning and the blessing that we still live in a country where the founding principles that these Republicans swear to uphold are still protected by some.” At the end of the day, “we will not be able to drink oil or eat dirty, blood-wrung green paper and nickel.”
Lauren’s entire article can be read here.
